Friction lighter



Nov. 13, 1934. c. MALTNER 1,980,363

FRICTION LIGHTER Filed Sept. 21, 1953 s z I K c 2).

Y afi a," u 11 f I a Z h 9 g z 6 W Patented Nov. 13, 1934 PATENT OFFICEFRICTION LIGHTER Carl Maltner, Offenbach-on-the-Main, GermanyApplication September 21, 1933, Serial No. 690,381

In Germany September 21, 1932 2 Claims. (Cl. 677.1)

The invention relates to a frictional lighter, more particularly to alighter of the type in which a friction wheel is rotated in contact witha body of a pyrophoric alloy for producing a spark emis- 5 sion whichserves to ignite a fuel containing wick.

consists in facilitating the work of the thumb of the hand holding thecontainer in releasing the extinguisher cap carrying arm from the catchmember taking care in an ample manner to the security against undesiredrelease of the locking of this arm. It makes use of the positions whichthe thumb together with the fingers of the hand naturally assume whenholding the lighter, and accomplishes the release of the locking deviceof the extinguisher cap carrying arm with the thumb fully extended ornearly extended, the thumb having,in efiect, only to push. For thisreason, the releasing member of the locking device is located in theneighbourhood of the top of the thumb towards the inside of the same andhas a wing extending up and down along the length dimension of thelocking device remaining within the area of 'the top of the containerand being gripped by the thumb.

Another problem solved by the invention is to prevent evaporation of thefluid, or more or less solid fuel, when the lighter is not in use, whichevaporation is promoted when the lighter is being carried about in thepocket through the warmth of the body, or otherwise through the warmthof the atmosphere.

As the extinguisher cap must surround the wick with adequate play inorder that, when the carrying lever is flung upwards, it can move over acircular path round the pivot of the said arm, the evaporated fuelcollects in the space thus formed and passes under the sealing edge ofthe cap into the open and is lost. The existence of this difliculty hasalready been recognized; and therefore, to prevent such loss, it hasbeen proposed to provide'a ball-sealing surface between the wick holderand the extinguisher cap; But as the ball-shaped wick holder had beenmade from pretty soft material the surface is likely to lose soon itsball-shape in use so that the evap- 55 oration sought to be preventednevertheless does take place. It is therefore a further object of thisinvention to make the ball from hard and, particularly, from hardenedbright polished, steel.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and such other objects as willhereafter appear, my invention consists in the elements and theirrelation one to the other as hereafter more particularly described andsought to-be defined in the claims, reference being had to theaccompanying drawing which shows the preferred embodiment 5 of myinvention and in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of the improved friction wheel lighterwith the upwardly flinging arm carrying the extinguisher cap in closedposition.

Fig. 2 is an elevational view thereof with parts broken away and thewick holder and extinguisher capin longitudinal section.

Fig. 3 is a plan. v

Fig. 4 is a section on line A-B of Fig. 3 through the locking device, ona greater scale.

Fig. 5 is a cross-section, on a greater scale, through line C-D of Fig.1.

Fig. 6 is an elevational view of the lighter in its open position.

The carrying arm A for the extinguisher cap h is mounted to rotate onthe spindle d, mounted in the lugs b on the fuel container i under theinfluence of an upward flinging spring (not shown). The friction wheel krubbing on the flint e is disposed on the said spindle, and rotates withthe arm A which is widened out at its one end into a casing a whichencloses the friction wheel. The part disposed on the, other side of theextinguisher cap, is kept very small, is bent down at right angles; andterminates in an end piece a which engages the locking device. Thelocking device'consists of a short rotatable hollow cylinder f mountedtobe under the influence of a coiled spring u and being provided with alengthwise projection or wing l on the cylinder forming a thumb piece.This wing is formed in such a manner that it remains within the area ofthe lid of the container. .On the container lid, a pin m is secured bymeans of a screw 0 passing through the said lid. The pin m forms astationary pivot for the cylinder I which is prevented, from movingaxially by the screw 12, which passes through a perforation in the topof the cylinder and is screwed into the pin m. The 105 hollow cylinder fhas an-a'nnular turned recess t for receiving the coiled spring u theone end of which is attached to the container lid, whilst the other endis fixed to the cylinder. A slot 12 is Y provided in the wall of thecylinder which slot 110 thumb, which causes the grip or wing l tofunction in order to swing the narrower end of the slot in the cylinderopposite the arm- A carrying the extinguisher cap h. A small rotarymovement of the cylinder is suflicient to move the end projection w fromover the end a of the arm A, the width of the lower portion of the slot1;

allowing the required movement, whereupon the fiuence of the spring u toarmA is hurled upwards. When the cylinder 1 is released by the thumb, itreturns under the inits initial position limited by stop 11..

On the lowering of the arm A, the end piece a of the same bears on theend piece 10, which may be bevelled, and presses same to onefside torotate the cylinder so that the end piecea can enter the slot 1) inwhich it is held, since the cylinder is driven back by 'thespring u,after the passage of the arm A below the end piece w, into the initialposition. The wick c protruding from the fuel container zis held in thetube of meshmaterial 1' which is originally cylindrical an which ispassed through a narrower cylindrical bore in a hardened bright polishedsteel ball 0, whereby it is conically contracted. The ball is let into arecess in the container lid, in which it is held by folding back theends of the mesh material. The extinguisher cap it has a dome-likelining z with a base turned to suit the spherical surface of the ball a.The turning is suitably stepped twice so that the dome rests on the ballintwo zones :2: and 1!.

In order that the cap or dome should always adjust itself axially on theperpendicular main axis of the ball,..the dome a hangs from a platespring q (Fig. 2) in contact with its crown and is carried by pins 1'engaging in longitudinalslots s in the wall of the cap h (Fig. 1).

I claim:

1. A friction lighter comprising a fuel con-' tainer, an upward flingingarm carrying an extinguisher cap, a wick holder partly let into the topwall of the container and formed as a ball of hardened material, aball-shaped seal between.

the wick holder and the extinguisher cap, and a wick-guiding tubepassing through the ball'and' holding the ball in position.

2. A lighter in accordancewith claim 1 characterized in that theball-like turning of the cap lbase is cut or stepped back more than oncefor the formation of more than one sealing edge.

CARL lltlZALTNER

